The Student Room Group

Reaching for a star

Cheesy title, I know. I couldn't resist after seeing all the other journeys and paths and trips and excursions to Einstein-level grades on this year's GYG :u:


Reaching For A Star :moon:





Aloha, Millie here! I'm a resit applicant. After missing my firm in August, I'M BACK TO TRY AGAIN. I am yet another medic hopeful like the other 55% of TSR :mmm:




I have officially finished year 13 last year and I'm going to be studying solo from home this year. So I guess I'm in year 14? I will be re-sitting AQA Psychology A, the old spec. Coz ya know, I'm such a dinosaur. So that includes 4 modules in total, 2 AS and 2 A2 exams. I may very well be the only person sitting these papers because it's only for repeaters and I have yet to meet another soul in this boat.




GCSEs: 8A* 2A
AS:AAAC in biology, maths, psychology and chemistry
A2:A*AB in biology, chemistry and psychology
UKCAT: VR 680
QR 740
AR 700
Band 2
Average 706 Total 2120




Goals for the future...:dontknow:
GET INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL.
Go from B to A* in psychology
Get at least 95% UMS in all modules (I mean, I'll be praying for 100%. It's not against the law to aim big)
Get a royal flush of offers, sprinkled with a couple of unconditionals
Win that MacBook :colone:




PSYA1 - Monday 15th May (1hr30) PM
PSYA2 - Monday 22nd May (1hr30) PM
PSYA3 - Wednesday 7th June (1hr30) PM
PSYA4 - Wednesday 14th June (2 hrs) PM



I don't really have any plans for this thread. TBH I tried GYG last year and didn't get very far at all!I will consider it a success if I'm still popping in during exam time. So far, the plan is to go with the flow and see what suits. I will try and set myself daily goals, but if that doesn't work out, I'll drop it down to weekly goals. I love to see people post pictures of their work, so I might do that too on occasion.

APPLICATION PROGRESS

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Firm choice: Queen's University Belfast - Medicine
Insurance choice: University of Liverpool - Medicine

RESULTS DAY 2017

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UPDATE ON ZE GOALSSS

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(edited 6 years ago)

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Reply 1
Day 1
Goal - Go through the Holt and Lewis textbook for research methods and add relevant points to the notes so far

UPDATE: Ugh kill me now. Of 50 pages, I have gone through 10. I might put on some instrumental music... Listening to music is a real hit-or-miss with me. Some days it works like magic and I actually get the work done. And then other days it holds me back.

UPDATE: I managed another page or two before I called it a night. I tend to run out of steam when I study and it just ends up like...bleurgh. Hopefully, tomorrow goes better.

Success rating: :unimpressed:
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 2
Day 2:
Goal - Finish adding Holt and Lewis notes for research methods.
Read two chapters of the book of the month.

UPDATE: I kept catching myself getting distracted so I decided to put on some study muic. I went onto 8tracks because I know there are some awesome playlists on there, but there's some technical difficulty. Anyway, I've found a YouTube channel called Study Music Project with music designed especilly to boost concentration. Let's see how good it is.

UPDATE: Guys this channel is the greatest. I mean, I sat down with the Christmas music playlist on and started working. Next thing I know, I've been working for an hour straight, no distractions. I'm quite pleasantly surprised. Definitely gonna stick with it.
Other than that, I made a fair bit of progress with the work. I realise I might be shooting a bit high with the daily goal, and I may not get a whole textbook chapter done in one day so I'm going to ease off and just hope I keep making littler progress.

Success rating: :redface:
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 3
Day 3:
Goal - Get up to quantitative analysis (pg43) done.

UPDATE: So I didn't get as far as 10 pages yesterday, it was more like 5. Although, in fairness, I did have birthday parties to go to, so i wasn't all that availble yesterday either. I think maybe I shouldn't set myself any sort of goals, even little ones.

Success Rating: :ashamed2:
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 4
Day 4:

Goal - Work on with research methods.
Read two chapters of the book of the month.

UPDATE: yessss! I achieved both goals! For once! Whoopie!!

Success Rating::banana2:
(edited 7 years ago)
Hey I love your OP! :biggrin:
I'm also studying from home. Nice to see I'm not the only homeschooler on here :smile:
Reply 6
Original post by StrawbAri
Hey I love your OP! :biggrin:
I'm also studying from home. Nice to see I'm not the only homeschooler on here :smile:


Thank you! It's great to see another homeschooler. Do you find that everyone underestimates how hard it is? If you are doing GYG do give me the link. I'd love to follow your journey :biggrin:
Reply 7
Alright, so a non-specified goal seems to be a better incentive than a specified one, so I will stick with that. Also, I have found my new motivation anthem. This song can really get me pumped!
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 8
Day 5:
Goal: Seriously. Be done with this textbook. You need to work through another textbook also and November is nearly done. Get a move on.
Reply 9
Hey!
Wanna join my study group chat?

https://discord.gg/DDKdcja

We are already to 15 members in 1 day!
Better check it even once for better perspective of how it works :wink:
Posted from TSR Mobile
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Millie-3
Thank you! It's great to see another homeschooler. Do you find that everyone underestimates how hard it is? If you are doing GYG do give me the link. I'd love to follow your journey :biggrin:


Actually I've mostly been getting pity/people assuming I'm anti social (I'm not :colondollar:)
And yeah I am!
Here it is
Thanks! :biggrin: We can support each other in these lonely times :emo:
Reply 11
Day 7:
UPDATE: ok, so I've been MIA yesterday, and I didn't set a goal again this morning because I figured my goal was the same. Getting research methods done. and since it was my last AS unit, essentially finish all AS notes. AND I'M DONE!!! Not only did I manage to finish the one textbook I was struggling with, I got through another study guide entirely! I'm so happy, I could just collapse onto my bed out of exhaustion. Honestly, the best part is that I got it all done within November. I can't imagine dragging this into another month. One problem is since I'm done my AS work, I don't know what to work on with tomorrow. Is it too soon to move onto A2 work? oh well, we'll worry about that tomorrow. Right, I'm off.

UPDATE: The song that got me through the day.

Success Rating: :bhangra:

P.S. I wish I had done handwritten notes now so thatbI could post pictures of all my hard work. Problems of typing up notes!
(edited 7 years ago)
Set your goal one day before..maybe at night before going to sleep

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Reply 13
Original post by Trevish
Set your goal one day before..maybe at night before going to sleep

Posted from TSR Mobile
That's not a bad idea, actually! I might just start doing that, let's see :smile:
Reply 14
Day 8:
Goal - Figure out how much I can write in half an hour under exam conditions.
Edit at least two essays to this size.

UPDATE: So after the highs of day 7, I had a low yesterday. I figured out that I can write just under 800 words in half an hour if I write flat-out without pauses and with a crampy hand. How realistic that is to real exams with the immense pressures and the going blank and the annoying people all around you, only time will tell. But I'm going to aim all my essays to be under 780 words. You have no idea how hard that is for me. I'm that person that writes 10 lines when the paper only has 2 "because they don't want to miss anything". But anyway that's the goal.

UPDATE: I got one essay quite shortened but not quite done either.

Success Rating: :dumbells:
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Millie-3
Day 8:
Goal - Figure out how much I can write in half an hour under exam conditions.
Edit at least two essays to this size.


Aight! Did you write your timetable beforehand?

Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 16
Original post by Trevish
Aight! Did you write your timetable beforehand?

Posted from TSR Mobile


Thank you for the advice! I've started this thing where going to bed I sort out what I would ideally have liked to have done this time tomorrow. But I'm just going to update the thread in the mornings because that's when I am most available to go on TSR.
Reply 17
Day 9:
Goal - Read 2 chapters of the book of the month
Get the first two aggression essays typed and summarised
Get the Christmas decorations out of their hiding places
Remember to watch The Late Late Toy Show (Not really grades related, I know, but it's such a tradition! Pease tell me I'm not alone here!)

UPDATE: Guys, there are 21 essays in Unit 3, and I am struggling to get through one. One. Ugh. Must plunder through.

UPDATE: So I kept staring at the huge workload and I kept getting overwhelmed by it. Usually, when I get like that, I make checklists to break the big job into smaller, more manageable jobs. So "edit essay" becomes "type up essay,
go through mark schemes and add anything missing to the essay,
shrink it down to 260 words for AO1 and 520 words for AO2/3".

UPDATE: Maybe I should aim for one essay per day. That way I'll pace myself and get the work done within the month. Is that going fast enough with enough time left to spare for actually learrning the content and doing past papers? Time will tell, I guess.

UPDATE: I got my reading done (and discovered that when a med school says they offer dissection, it's not like biology class in school where you get a random body part and chop it a little and then it is discarded. You work on the same nameless body for months (or years) You get to know one body more intimately than you will ever know anything at all. I mean my mind=blown.
Ha. I think we all knew that 2 eassays was a bit ambitious. I regret to say that I couldn't even get one done.
Decorations all done, tree put up. That's one job done.

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Of course I watched the toy show. How cute are those kids!

Success Rating: :s-smilie:
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 18
I don't think I've discussed my reading yet, even though, it's usually one of my goals. Basically, I'm a big reader and always have been. But since sixth form, I've been too busy or entertained myself in other ways, and I've become estranged with one of my loves. So every month, I pick a book and make myself go through it bit by bit. It's usually the starting that's hard, but once I'm in, I'm in, you know? Once I'm invested, I'll finish the book. So last month it was Catching Fire (I always read the HG series during Oct/Nov). This month it is Direct Red by Gabriel Weston which has been described as a must-read for any aspiring medic. So if there's anyone out there following this thread and would like me to update what I'm reading as I go along, let me know.
Reply 19
Day 10:
Goal - Finish the social psychological aggression essay.
Read two more chapters of the book.

UPDATE: I got the essay done and exactly within my predetermined word count! In fact, I had it done so early I decided not to dally and went straight into the next chapter. I had the AO1 close to done in the second essay and now just to finish it. I'm hoping...you know what, I'm not even gonna say it just to have it jinxed. Let's just get essay #2 done.
On the other hand, I only got a chapter read in the book. Ah well, reading is easier to catch up on than essays, so maybe I'll read three instead of two chapters next time.

Success Rating: :cool:
(edited 7 years ago)

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